May 31, 2016

There are certain times in your life that you wonder what someone would think if they could swap eyes with you for a moment, like wheeling a wheel barrel heavy from a decaying dead goat through shin-high mud. A farmer family was out of town for the weekend and one of their goats caught a disease and died. So they thought they would call us to "take care of the situation." 

Good thing we had our overalls. 

Picking up the bloated goat was hard enough, but add digging a deep grave and hefting it down there and you get an experience that will stay with you for a while. Strangely, the beautiful part about it was how surreal the world was around us. A herd of sheep lay off to the left under the tranquil shadows of the trees. Under the bright blue sky a massive white horse  stood close to us staring off to the horizon while a freshly born white lamb lay on an adjacent tree stump. Despite the potential to have such a grotesque experience, the true meaning of how the scriptures describe "going the way of all the earth" hit me. It really is an honor to be a part of this massive world we live in.

Our days seem to carry the stark contrast of bitter and sweet lately. On the bottom floor of an apartment complex we picked up a young couple as investigators that are eager to discover how the Book of Mormon and baptism could strengthen their relationship together. On the top floor we met a lady who just happens to be one of the return missionary's cousins in our ward. The lady was 19, just had a baby a month ago, no job, her husband is in jail for abusing her, and she was fine wallowing in her own despair. We met up with her cousin and dropped by again on Sunday and managed to spur her on to seek out if God actually is there and if he actually does love her. The love of God can be a difficult thing to convey, especially to someone as deep in difficult circumstances as she was, but the Holy Spirit struck her heart. Looking for the good in the midst of mud is only possible to maintain when built on the reality of a living Savior, a Lord who actively works to become our closest friend, hope, and salvation from the sorrows of the world. He is the only light that will endure any streaks of darkness that tend to force their way into our lives. He is the life that will keep on giving. 

Happy Memorial Day :)

xoxo

Elder Burgess